“Based on the work of the WASHCost project run by the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC), this book provides an evaluation of the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sectors in the context of developing countries and is the first systematic study of applying the life-cycle cost approach to assessing allocations. It presents unit cost estimates of the WASH sector across geographic locations and technologies, including rural and peri-urban areas, and these are compared with service levels. It analyses detailed data from more than 5000 households across nine agro-climatic zones in Andhra Pradesh State in India. Key issues assessed include poverty analysis of service levels, cost drivers and factors at the village and household level, and governance aspects such as transparency, accountability and value for money in relation to unit costs and service levels.

This is the most comprehensive study of the WASH sector in India and elsewhere that utilises the life-cycle cost approach, along with GIS, econometric modelling and qualitative research methods. Not only does it contribute to research and methodology in this area, but the analysis also provides valuable insights for planners, policy makers and bi-lateral donors. The authors show how the methodology can also be applied in other developing country contexts.”

In Message for World Toilet Day, Secretary-General Urges that Sanitation Be at Heart of Post-2015 Development Framework

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for World Toilet Day, observed on 19 November:

Each year, more than 800,000 children under five die needlessly from diarrhoea — more than one child a minute. Countless others fall seriously ill, with many suffering long-term health and developmental consequences. Poor sanitation and hygiene are the primary cause. Worldwide, some 2.5 billion people lack the benefits of adequate sanitation. More than 1 billion people practise open defecation. We must break the taboos and make sanitation for all a global development priority.

This first official observance by the United Nations of World Toilet Day is an opportunity to highlight this important topic. Sanitation is central to human and environmental health. It is essential for sustainable development, dignity and opportunity. Poor water and sanitation cost developing countries around $260 billion a year — 1.5 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP). On the other hand, every dollar invested can bring a five-fold return by keeping people healthy and productive. When schools offer decent toilets, 11 per cent more girls attend. When women have access to a private latrine, they are less vulnerable to assault.

Despite the compelling moral and economic case for action on sanitation, progress has been too little and too slow. That is why I launched a Call to Action on Sanitation this year to end open defecation by 2025 and build on existing efforts, such as Sanitation and Water for All and the Sanitation Drive to 2015, the target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

We are a long way from achieving the MDG target of reducing by half the proportion of people lacking adequate sanitation. We must urgently step up our efforts, with all actors working together for rapid, tangible results. And, as we look beyond 2015, it is essential that sanitation is placed at the heart of the post-2015 development framework. The solutions need not be expensive or technology driven. There are many successful models that can be replicated and scaled up. We must also work to educate at-risk communities and change cultural perceptions and long-standing practices that have no place in our modern world.

By working together — and by having an open and frank discussion on the importance of toilets and sanitation — we can improve the health and well-being of one third of the human family. That is the goal of World Toilet Day.

What is World Toilet Day ?

World Toilet Day is observed annually on 19 November. This international day of action aims to break the taboo around toilets and draw attention to the global sanitation challenge.

Can you imagine not having a toilet? Can you imagine not having privacy when you need to relieve yourself? Although unthinkable for those living in wealthy parts of the world, this is a harsh reality for many – in fact, one in three people on this globe, does not have access to a toilet! Have you ever thought about the true meaning of dignity?

World Toilet Day was created to pose exactly these kind of questions and to raise global awareness of the daily struggle for proper sanitation that a staggering 2.5 billion people face. World Toilet Day brings together different groups, such as media, the private sector, development organisations and civil society in a global movement to advocate for safe toilets. Since its inception in 2001, World Toilet Day has become an important platform to demand action from governments and to reach out to wider audiences by showing that toilets can be fun and sexy as well as vital to life. more…

Greetings from the Organizing Committee -GPHCON2014 It is our privilege to intimate you that School of Public Health SRM University will be organizing Global Public Health Conference in February 21-23, 2014 and the pre-conference workshop is on February 20, 2014. The theme of the conference is “Multi- disciplinary Approaches in Public Health: innovations, practices and Future Strategies” and about 25 sub themes focuses on multi-disciplinary approaches.

The aim of this conference is to bring the public health professionals from various disciplines to a single platform and share their technical expertise for the benefit of the people and the world. If you are working actively with public health systems or practicing public health at any level we invite you to share your rich experience in the conference. Your participation would add great value to the conference and you will certainly enjoy being among the renowned intellectual expertise.

The venue of the conference is SRM University, Near Chennai. SRM University is the first private University in India and has many glorious achievements to its credit. SRM launched the Nano satellite named, SRMSAT in the year 2012: it has been designed by students and faculties of SRM University. The crowning glory for the SRM University is in being the first private University in India to host the 98th Indian Science Congress that was hosted with the theme “Quality Education and Excellence in Scientific Research in Indian Universities” was formally inaugurated by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in the year 2010 which was attended by more than 10,400 delegates from India and abroad including six Nobel Laureates has participated.

Keeping the legacy of organizing the large national and international conferences we School of Public Health, SRM University invite your august participation in the conference.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY SRM

University is one of the top ranking universities in India with over 20,000 students and 1,500 faculties, offering a wide range of undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programs in Engineering, Management, Medicine and Health Sciences, and Science and Humanities. SRM University with multiple institutions having been established 28 years ago is one of the largest private Universities in India. Over two and half decades, SRM University has set standards in experimental education and knowledge creation across various fields. Over 600 acres replete with a variety of facilities, State-of-the-art labs, libraries, Wi-Fi, Knowledge centre, 4500 capacity AC auditorium, 100 online smart classrooms and hostels with premium facilities.

SRM University is the first private university in India to launch the Nano satellite named, SRMSAT: it has been designed by students and faculties of SRM University. The design is made robust enough support different payloads and act as Nano Bus for further mission. By this process SRM University would be able to provide qualified and trained scientist and technological manpower in satellite technology. Added to the crowning glory for the SRM University is that the 98th Indian Science Congress was hosted with the theme “Quality Education and Excellence in Scientific Research in Indian Universities”, was formally inaugurated by the Prime Minister in which more than 10,400 delegates from India and abroad including six Nobel Laureates has participated.

ABOUT THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Emerging as a School of Excellence in the 6 years of genesis, our staff brings experience in multiple disciplines and have hands on experience in local, national, and international health settings. Our capabilities in research, knowledge and practice have been tested time to time and proved successful..School of Public Health intercepts into many inter related disciplines, which have key elements in common that bring us together. School of Public Health, because of its unique standing is a powerful tool in bring about balance. The School works on “hubs and spokes” model linking many departments that include Medicine, Engineering, Nursing and Management in its manifold to function effectively. Postgraduate program in the School of Public Health is designed for graduates, who aspire to be leaders and professionals in public health, who aspire to reach high-level roles nationally and internationally. Our students come from all parts of India and a few International students from the Far East. They have relevant academic and work experience. Majority of our students have a prior health related degree, and we have students from various disciplines like Arts, Humanities and Engineering. We have Doctors and Public Health Officers nominated from various states and Union Territories.

This program prepares health professionals from a varied range of backgrounds, with knowledge and skills from a variety of disciplines, to define, critically assess and resolve public health and nutrition problems. Various fields of study allow students to focus on Indian public health issues and international public health, including nutrition and tropical health.

Abstract Submission

Authors who wish to submit abstract should follow the format for abstract submission that can be downloaded from the website. Abstracts should be written in English. Abstracts that are submitted must NOT have been previously presented in any other conference or published anywhere in any form.

Abstract should not exceed 300 words. It must be prepared in MS Word format. A 12 point font, Times New Roman, 1.5 line spacing should be used. Abstracts should be structured one with following sub-headings indicating in bold – Background; Objectives; Methods; Results; Conclusion. Always define abbreviations and acronyms including standard measures. Place special or unusual abbreviations in parentheses after the full word the first time it appears. Each abstract must be complete, i.e. it must include all information necessary for its comprehension and not refer to another text.

We encourage applying though online submission; however for the convenience the abstract can be emailed to gphcon.2014@srmuniv.edu.in. The submitted abstract will be reviewed by the expert committee and the authors will be notified about the acceptance by Email. If accepted for presentation the selected authors are requested to submit the full paper.

o Deadline for abstract submission – November 30, 2013.
o Last date for submission of full paper – December 31, 2013
o After you complete your submission, you will receive an e-mail that confirms your submission was successfully received.
o Keep a copy of your abstract submission for your records.

Abstract

The social movements of the last two decades have fostered a rights-based approach to health systems development within the global discourse on national and international health governance. In this piece, we discuss ongoing challenges in the cavernous “implementation gap ”— translating legislative victories for human rights into actual practice and delivery. Using accompaniment as an underlying principle, we focus primarily on constructing effective, equitable, and accountable public sector health systems. Public sector health care delivery is challenged by increasingly exclusive politics and inequitable economic policies that severely limit the participatory power of marginalized people. Finally, we discuss the role of implementation science in closing the delivery gap.

Introduction: The right to health

The human rights approach to public health systems development has been a central theme to emerge from the explosive growth in global health awareness and funding in the last two decades.1 The notion that health care systems are both national and international public goods protecting the essential rights of all citizens, while not wholly embraced, has gained traction in global debates about health care financing, governance, and implementation.2 In this piece, we discuss challenges in translating consensus around health as a human right into one particular aspect of the right to health: namely, access to effective health care systems that reach the most vulnerable.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was published in 1948,3 marking the start of the modern human rights movement. The poles of civil and political rights versus social and economic rights established during the Cold War era prevailed until the early 1990s, when a relative consensus emerged that the different human rights domains should be integrated. The global movement to combat HIV/AIDS represents the broadest, deepest, most concerted effort to date to forge a link between health and human rights. It is no coincidence that this movement was initiated, expanded, and sustained by individuals from communities bearing the highest burdens of HIV disease. The movement was successful because it was driven and led by individuals directly affected by the epidemic. This movement both globalized public health and connected it to the rights agenda.4

A major challenge in translating the successes of the HIV/AIDS movement into broader health systems change is deepening the involvement of citizens who would be most impacted by such changes—often the most marginalized populations. Wealthier citizens tend to be able to rely on for-profit, privatized health services and therefore have little incentive to partner with poorer citizens to advance public sector health systems change.

Herein lies a paradox in health and human rights. At no time in human history has health as a human right been as prominent in international and national health discourse as it is now. Yet we also face ongoing expansion of the politics of exclusion and the economics of inequality, which pose immense challenges to implementing human rights-based advances. Human rights legislation without effective delivery systems is impotent; effective delivery systems without human rights protections (for example, legislative guarantees) will fail to deliver to the most vulnerable.

For health systems development, why does the rights-based view remain relevant today? While much has changed, the underlying forces driving health inequity remain the same. We believe that effective health care systems must guarantee the right to health for our most vulnerable citizens. While this is a sweeping statement, it is important to differentiate this rights-based approach from other approaches that seek merely to reduce population disease, maximize cost-effectiveness, or facilitate rational private investment in health. Our stance is a fundamentally moral one, rooted in the lived experiences of our patients, but it is also deeply pragmatic. To free the world’s poor from the diseases that continue to stalk them, we must build better public sector systems. more….

Health and Human Rights began publication in 1994 under the editorship of Jonathan Mann. Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners In Health, assumed the editorship in 2007. Health and Human Rights is an online, open-access publication.

Health and Human Rights provides an inclusive forum for action-oriented dialogue among human rights practitioners. The journal endeavors to increase access to human rights knowledge in the health field by linking an expanded community of readers and contributors. Following the lead of a growing number of open access publications, the full text of Health and Human Rights is freely available to anyone with internet access.

Health and Human Rights focuses rigorous scholarly analysis on the conceptual foundations and challenges of rights discourse and action in relation to health. The journal is dedicated to empowering new voices from the field — highlighting the innovative work of groups and individuals in direct engagement with human rights struggles as they relate to health. We seek to foster engaged scholarship and reflective activism. In doing so, we invite informed action to realize the full spectrum of human rights. more…

This article is important in its own right. WASHLink believes Hygiene, Sanitation, Water, & Public Health can not, must not, should not be siloed. If we shall build apart we shall fall together, so while not addressed directly, we see there is a underlying appeal in this article for such. We encourage you to read on, and explore the invaluable site it is posted on. We can hope this article and other articles found on the Health and Human Rights site reach the eye of the policy makers and there minions that execute their edicts. While perhaps trite: we all have some responsibility / some role to play in moving this forward.

Abstract

Introduction Diarrhoeal diseases are leading causes of mortality and morbidity in developing countries. Inspite of many programmes and facilities provided by the government towards prevention of diarrhoeal diseases, it continues to be a threat.
Objective: To study the sanitation and hygiene practices followed by patients of diarrhoea admitted at Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH).

Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional hospital based study conducted on 300 patients admitted at Infectious Diseases Hospital, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow. Patients were interviewed using a predesigned schedule after taking informed consent. Information regarding general characteristics including source of drinking water, sanitation practices, toilet facility available and mode of refuse disposable were taken. Data was analysed using SPSS 17.0 statistical software. Results: Majority (50.67%) of patients’ uses Municipal water supply/tap water as main source of drinking water and 30% patients uses India mark II hand pump. Around two-third of diarrhoeal patient practices hand washing with soap and water after household activities. Majority (63.33%) do not practices safe methods of storing drinking water, 87.33% uses sanitary latrines while 12.6% still uses open field for defecation. Almost half of the patients uses dustbin for refuse disposal. Use of sanitary latrines and India mark II drinking water was positively associated with higher socioeconomic status. Conclusion: In spite of the improved facilities of water and sanitation provided by the government, there exists a lacuna between its availability and their proper utilisation. This leads on to the burden of diarrhoeal patients on the health sector. Proper awareness regarding safe drinking water and sanitation practices and proper refuse disposal can reduce the diarrhoeal load.view pdf…

WASHLink from time to time likes to briefly note newly publish papers in hopes of giving them a wider audience – let us know if you know of paper that could use this very small piece of publicity…

After working for more than 20 years as an electrical engineer with different business houses, Suprio realized that life could be more meaningful and interesting than this scramble up the corporate ladder. He gave up his job …
His latest project Zimba the automatic chlorine doser, was selected by researchers of Stanford University and icddr-b for trials in the slums of Dhaka. These dosers are in operation since February 2012 and are currently serving around 50 families. A single device is also under pilot trial with Spring Health (a Paul Polak initiative) in Orissa…. more…

This is one of the best Sanitation/ Global Health stories we have seen lately. Delivered in a very pleasurable consumable format, by a great speaker who make the topic reachable to a board spectrum of professionals and people. It’s antidotal in nature, while being universal in the realities of solving a village’s sanitation issues. Shyama has an honesty that needs to be incorporated into the newly developing transparency practices oft the world’s NGOs . This talk needs to be shown to the NGO’s and their altruistic “minions” before they venture out to help their global brothers and sisters.

The story starts out after audience imagining life with out toilets with Shyama explaining how she as pure novice, walks into a coastal village after a tsunami, and realizes she must bring the villages toilets back.

She learns along the way “…2.4 billion people don’t even have access to a toilet that functions, 1 billion don’t have access to any toilet the just have to defecate anywhere they can …” Thus the “….lack of waste management and toilets is making a killer that we are not talking about enough … diarrhea…. the number one killer in most developing countries…”

She Googles and contacts “experts” to educates herself with the facts to get the job done or so she thinks.

Upon the last new toilet being being initiated with a squat of a villager behind closed doors, Shyama, unlike many of the NGO’s, does not walked away. The core of her captivating story is what happens afterward … The door is opened, the veil of naivety is exposed and lifted. Where/when most project fall into failure, she and her partner begins the long diagnostic/prognostic/improvement cycle.

Shyama reminds us it is a an effort that is ongoing with more to learn and invites us to come back… It will be a crime if we do not see the next installment of this story as it continues to unfold.

Essential and very practical points abound within her story. One that are be showing up in other stories from around the world- and hopepfully becoming a din that must be addressed. With some paraphrasing, here are a few I see tucked in her tail:
1 NGO’s can’t do it alone and succeed; the villagers are needed – with a vastly redefined roll for NGOs.
2 Technical experts/ engineers may not be the social experts – both are needed.
3 Toilets at the onset are not alway seen as valuable/desirable assets. Education is needed before during and after
4 Women and men of the villages do not have the same perspective on sanitation. The project must address both separately as well as together .
5 Villages without ongoing support services will quickly have “…fossils of abandoned stinking toilets allover…”
6 Schools as an institution do not just naturally promote and desire ecosan toilets. They must also be nurtured. (details not addressed in this piece – but would be important to learn more about)
7 Building heathy social stimulus/pressure/ pride must be part of the scope
8 People who want the toilet must be educated on use and care
9 The villagers must be part of the economic model – the social model. Such pieces as manufacturing / construction/ distribution/ sales/ support / education/ promotion/ etc
10 Microfinance is a viable solution – (a work in progress in the story)
11 Toilets can provide a financially valuable natural resource – fertilizer
12 This all makes it a slower road, but it is a viable road, unlike the fast road the many NGO’s are building.
13 100% may be the target but 80% is a not a bad number to start with- and even that require lots of work.

Shyama reminds us it’s a an effort that is ongoing and invites us to come back ,so to speak. It will be a crime if we do not see the next installment of this story as it continues to unfold.